Thanks for the quick replies - Costco has the RBK53 for 379 right now - still on the fence of what to do.

Not trying to confuse the issue any more...but!...I would have no problem recommending the Google wi fi system. A friend of mine has used it for a while and its been very solid for them. $258 on Amazon for the 3 pack.

Not trying to confuse the issue any more...but!...I would have no problem recommending the Google wi fi system. A friend of mine has used it for a while and its been very solid for them. $258 on Amazon for the 3 pack.

Thanks for the quick replies - Costco has the RBK53 for 379 right now - still on the fence of what to do.

Costco has a good return policy so consider that as well. I think if you are not a power user with lots of users at once, then Orbi, Eero, etc will be just fine. I opted for Orbi because each unit has ethernet ports (4 I think) which gives it a little more flexibility. I have a friend who has the Eero and loves it so just go with your gut. The dropouts that were previous mentioned with the Orbi have been worked out with subsequent updates. I haven't experienced any drop outs and have had no issues with updates.

Is there still a dropping issue? I 'believe' that is in the past...it never affected me but I remember reading posts from a lot of users that were having the issue.
Looking at the Orbi forum at Reddit that I used to browse from time to time I don't see the dropping mentioned.

I am not very "techie". I know with our Google mesh system, the name of your system is identical where ever you are in the house.
When we had a Netgear router and then installed a Netgear extender---when you happened to be in an area where your device picked up the extender rather than the router it would display networkname-ext. as the name. Not only did you lose a lot of connection speed when on that connector, we couldn't, really, use a for a whole home music system.
With the mesh system, the name of the system is identical no matter which mesh unit you happen to be connected with. The speed seems to be the same throughout the system. The system also seems to automatically choose the best band and channel it should use any given time and place.
Of course, I may be missing something.

Surprised nobody has mentioned Plume. They’re hands down the best mesh system out there. They do a lot of testing against interference and the setup is just plugging in an air freshener sized device into outlets randomly around your home. They have great apps and support as well. They beat Orbi head to head as well.

Personally I run a full UniFi stack in my home with PoE cameras, APs and a DIY router/DVR. I don’t mind getting my hands dirty. If I were to recommend a dead simple and high performance mesh though I’d go Plume all the way.

As an aside, though I like my UniFi APs, the newer UniFi mesh devices didn’t do well in the shootouts I’ve read.

Surprised nobody has mentioned Plume. They’re hands down the best mesh system out there. They do a lot of testing against interference and the setup is just plugging in an air freshener sized device into outlets randomly around your home. They have great apps and support as well. They beat Orbi head to head as well.

Personally I run a full UniFi stack in my home with PoE cameras, APs and a DIY router/DVR. I don’t mind getting my hands dirty. If I were to recommend a dead simple and high performance mesh though I’d go Plume all the way.

As an aside, though I like my UniFi APs, the newer UniFi mesh devices didn’t do well in the shootouts I’ve read.

Sort of. You can do a subscription, or you can do “lifetime” which is basically just the same as buying outright. If I understand it right you can get three pods that will work forever for $239 total. Or you can pay $39 for three pods (a big discount) + $60/yr.

Asus now has a firmware update that allows you to use their WiFi routers as a mesh network. I already had a AC68W and didn’t want to start over with a one of the mesh systems. Bought another asus router like this one https://www.amazon.com/Asus-Dual-Ban...ds=Asus+router
and connected it to the ac68w in node mode. Works amazing. Getting 100 mbs upstairs now when we’re getting low 20s. Tried a WiFi extender and it helped a litttle but Netflix wasn’t stable with it. Sent it back. The new setup cost more but it works worlds better. Hope that helps someone.

I am not very "techie". I know with our Google mesh system, the name of your system is identical where ever you are in the house.
When we had a Netgear router and then installed a Netgear extender---when you happened to be in an area where your device picked up the extender rather than the router it would display networkname-ext. as the name. Not only did you lose a lot of connection speed when on that connector, we couldn't, really, use a for a whole home music system.
With the mesh system, the name of the system is identical no matter which mesh unit you happen to be connected with. The speed seems to be the same throughout the system. The system also seems to automatically choose the best band and channel it should use any given time and place.
Of course, I may be missing something.

From Netgear's EX8000 info page:

Nighthawk X6S creates a seamless network throughout your home by using the same WiFi network name (SSID) as your router.

Your WiFi devices like the smartphones and laptops will remain connected to the same network name as you move around your house and yard.

Other extenders create separate WiFi network name (SSID) than the router’s WiFi, causing disconnect and reconnect.

It made a world of difference in my network and cured any dropout issues completely. Just had to place the tri-band extender where the signal would be passed to weaker signal areas.

I have an Orbi system which i bought from Costco last summer. It was giving me issues so I exchanged it before the 90-day ended. The second unit still had some issues. I read that if you use your old router and the orbi as an access point, the issues mostly go away. I setup my old netgear AC1900 R7000 Nighthack as the gateway/router with Wi-Fi disabled. I connected the orbi as a Wi-Fi access point and it is a lot more stable.

Occasionally, I do notice that connectivity gets unstable so i have to reboot everything, the R7000 included and all goes well.

My previous setup was two Netgear R7000 routers, one as a gateway and the other as a Wi-Fi extender. This gave me a 70% connectivity in the extreme edges of my home. The Orbi setup gives me 100% connectivity (see the images below). An issue before was the the Orbi satellites could only connect to the home/base Orbi. A recent unpdate now allows all the Orbis to connect to the nearest unit, satellite or base.

Current generation "mesh" networks are kind of a scam. Until the wifi alliance (or whatever they call themselves) have a protocol that all of the wifi clients (your iphone for example) also follow, mesh will simply not work correctly. This is why I stick with rapid transition ubiquiti unifi and plan on sticking with this for the next 10 years. No matter how good your router is, the weak link is the client devices. Most clients, especially for 5ghz, function best with an access point in every single room with no boundaries.

In a true/perfect mesh network, you should be able to do wifi calling on your cellphone and never drop a call. Basically your phone would be simultaneously connected to more than one access point and would be able to transition from one to the other without dropping a beat. I am not sure what all the technical hurdles for that type of networking are but I suspect that the network would need some way to map itself and then attach clients to appropriate access points in the area simultaneously. Perhaps the mesh would actually triangulate the client's position in space also in order to provide beacon functionality.

I suspect this roadmap is why apple got out of the wireless router/access point business for right now. It makes perfect sense for every homepod (or similar device) to have a) airplay2 b)true wireless mesh and c)beacon capability. Imagine your amazon alexa echo dots with a mesh access point built in.

This would make your remote control apps and devices aware of which room you are in. wifi calling would be "perfect" with no dropped calls walking from room to room. When you walk into your master bedroom, your apple watch would immediately go to the controls for that particular room as opposed to an arbitrary "favorites" page like it does now.

Your iphone apple tv remote would automatically control your media room when you walk in as well.

Your homepod, etc would be able more straightforward to control the particular room you are in by voice. When you say "siri, turn on the lights" it will automatically know which lights and room you are talking about (the room you are in). The big plus is that this can all happen with VERY little setup since all the regional devices will have beacons, mesh, and self mapping features.

with the new 3d mapping features they are coming up with in Augmented reality stuff, you will be able to readily map out your actual house and make it even more straightforward for the beacons/mesh access points to self setup in the correct rooms/spaces.

I just foresee MUCH more consumer friendly wifi / home solutions coming down the pike. I still think that the traditional home automation era will come to a close (crestron etc) as all these developments converge. You just won't need much manual setup of automation in the future.

until the wifi alliance changes mesh networking and your wifi chips in your phones change along with it, you are still not in a truly "mesh" scenario. I suspect we will be there in the next 10 years.

Current generation "mesh" networks are kind of a scam. Until the wifi alliance (or whatever they call themselves) have a protocol that all of the wifi clients (your iphone for example) also follow, mesh will simply not work correctly.

In a true/perfect mesh network, you should be able to do wifi calling on your cellphone and never drop a call. Basically your phone would be simultaneously connected to more than one access point and would be able to transition from one to the other without dropping a beat. .

Our Google mesh works perfectly for us. Streams perfectly on all our devices. (We don't have any Apple products.) We never have had trouble with Wi-Fi calling, even on old Wi-Fi systems. T-Mobile was the first carrier to do Wi-Fi calling well over 10 years ago, so that fact may help.

Current generation "mesh" networks are kind of a scam. Until the wifi alliance (or whatever they call themselves) have a protocol that all of the wifi clients (your iphone for example) also follow, mesh will simply not work correctly. This is why I stick with rapid transition ubiquiti unifi and plan on sticking with this for the next 10 years. No matter how good your router is, the weak link is the client devices. Most clients, especially for 5ghz, function best with an access point in every single room with no boundaries.

In a true/perfect mesh network, you should be able to do wifi calling on your cellphone and never drop a call. Basically your phone would be simultaneously connected to more than one access point and would be able to transition from one to the other without dropping a beat. I am not sure what all the technical hurdles for that type of networking are but I suspect that the network would need some way to map itself and then attach clients to appropriate access points in the area simultaneously. Perhaps the mesh would actually triangulate the client's position in space also in order to provide beacon functionality.

I suspect this roadmap is why apple got out of the wireless router/access point business for right now. It makes perfect sense for every homepod (or similar device) to have a) airplay2 b)true wireless mesh and c)beacon capability. Imagine your amazon alexa echo dots with a mesh access point built in.

This would make your remote control apps and devices aware of which room you are in. wifi calling would be "perfect" with no dropped calls walking from room to room. When you walk into your master bedroom, your apple watch would immediately go to the controls for that particular room as opposed to an arbitrary "favorites" page like it does now.

Your iphone apple tv remote would automatically control your media room when you walk in as well.

Your homepod, etc would be able more straightforward to control the particular room you are in by voice. When you say "siri, turn on the lights" it will automatically know which lights and room you are talking about (the room you are in). The big plus is that this can all happen with VERY little setup since all the regional devices will have beacons, mesh, and self mapping features.

with the new 3d mapping features they are coming up with in Augmented reality stuff, you will be able to readily map out your actual house and make it even more straightforward for the beacons/mesh access points to self setup in the correct rooms/spaces.

I just foresee MUCH more consumer friendly wifi / home solutions coming down the pike. I still think that the traditional home automation era will come to a close (crestron etc) as all these developments converge. You just won't need much manual setup of automation in the future.

until the wifi alliance changes mesh networking and your wifi chips in your phones change along with it, you are still not in a truly "mesh" scenario. I suspect we will be there in the next 10 years.

I just got the newer Comcast XB6 gateway and so far I like it and the xFi app to control and set up everything. I was using my Nighthawk X4 (7500) with their previous gateway for its better wifi and now i think i would like to put the X4 upstairs at the other end of the house (that has Ethernet for wired back-haul) as an AP to expand my WiFi coverage. I think what i have taken from the mesh posts is that this is one way to go until I opt for a true mesh network in the future.

If i go this route, since the XB6 can use the same SSID for both 2.4 & 5Ghz, how would i configure the X4 upstairs to give us the best WiFi experience? Should i separate 2.4 & 5Ghz SSID's to make things easier or can i use the same SSID all around and specify channels for each router?

I use the Netgear Orbi Mesh WiFi system coupled to a Motorola DOCSIS 3.1 modem with Comcast as my provider. We have, on the average, about 10 devices connected at any one time to the Orbi and have had absolutely no issues at all with either speeds (which are consistently fast inside and outside the house and property) and we also use WiFi-C (WiFi Calling) with resulting crystal clear audio and connectivity. Our house is two-story and large on a 0.5 acre.

Originally, I used the separate backhaul WiFi channel for upstairs and it was solid. I will be hardwiring the satellite with a solid core CAT-6 (non-CCA and not a CAT-6 ethernet cable) next week and then run another solid core cable to hardwire the home theater to the main Orbi router.

I just got the newer Comcast XB6 gateway and so far I like it and the xFi app to control and set up everything. I was using my Nighthawk X4 (7500) with their previous gateway for its better wifi and now i think i would like to put the X4 upstairs at the other end of the house (that has Ethernet for wired back-haul) as an AP to expand my WiFi coverage. I think what i have taken from the mesh posts is that this is one way to go until I opt for a true mesh network in the future.

If i go this route, since the XB6 can use the same SSID for both 2.4 & 5Ghz, how would i configure the X4 upstairs to give us the best WiFi experience? Should i separate 2.4 & 5Ghz SSID's to make things easier or can i use the same SSID all around and specify channels for each router?

Whole House Wifi / Mesh Network ... Who you using? eero 3 pack system.
I have been struggling with wifi bandwidth issues since DTV and their Geni/HR54 for 4k that's not 4k, and my now 1 year older Samsung 4k Smart TV were added into our current network loading with 4 to 6 other online items that ran fairly smooth with the 200 mbs service after direct wiring a Linksys a Gigabit switch to my TV and DTV using my older Linksys dual banded system that has 4 Lan ports fully used. I got spooked about the recent hacking capability for routers and my wife wanted more front yard wifi coverage so we purchased and installed a 3 pack eero system, that will I will not recommend for power IP users. Their architecture does not initially have an IP6 connectivity, and the base unit has only two lan ports one for the cable in, and the other goes to any wired configuration you can afford to design, as I robbed my TV Linksys switch at that time to get back some of the non-tv stuff I had wired directly before. None of my HP printers would connect and fortunately I was able to use some HP software to direct address the printers through the really bad eero phone app. My DTV and Sumsung I eventually got reset with their bad phone app with new passwords and IP address, however my DTV wouldn't do a streaming via wifi, nor would my Netflix load properly very slow and eventually did work I after several attempts. I got a new Net Gear switch to replace the one I robbed and got the DTV and TV all back to the operating wired state.

Almost back to normal with good mesh signal in the front yard. My wife has several Facebook games she's been working with like Tribez to the highest levels, that won't load, and she's gotten real familiar with their IT people trying to fix this issue. I caught that eero had added the IP6 capability in an upgrade, however it need turned on. I also have a new ritual of having to reset my TV as Netflix gives me an error loading issue that has the reset as their cure to my ills. of which I am now digging deeper into my eero problems as it appears there's some DNS being lost and of course I have had my wife turn on her phone hotspot, and her game loads and she logs off and comes back in for a couple of times but eventually she gives it a "hot shot" and her problems go away for awhile. My Neflix has not, however we had a eero update last week so we'll find out soon enough, as I am still limited.

I am now looking at buying and replacing my eero with Asus AC3100 as it appears to be mesh styled more in line with my needed bandwidth and appears to have enough power for the front yard range and cheaper than the eeros and has some of the lan switching, that I had to built back in.

Almost back to normal with good mesh signal in the front yard. My wife also have a new ritual of having to reset my TV as Netflix gives me an error loading issue that has the reset as their cure to my ills. of which I am now digging deeper into my eero problems as it appears there's some DNS being lost and of course I have had my wife turn on her phone hotspot, and her game loads and she logs off and comes back in for a couple of times but eventually she gives it a "hot shot" and her problems go away for awhile. My Neflix has not, however we had a eero update last week so we'll find out soon enough, as I am still limited.
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The Netflix app error loading might be a Samsung TV thing. We have 2 Samsung’s and the older one frequently has same issue, and only solution is to physically unplug the TV to reset it.

Recently got some Niveo Professional NWA300 wireless access points and a NWAC7000 controller waiting for time to try installing it.

Another vote here for Google. I have a 4 node system deployed as a wired mesh. It barely shows up in their documentation, but their access points do support wired mesh very well. Seamless home and guest networks throughout the house. I also use a handful of dumb Netgear Gb switches. The parental controls are a nice bonus.